[3] The keffiyeh originated amongst Bedouins as a practical and protective covering for the head and face, especially in the arid desert climate in which they have traditionally lived.

During his sojourn with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq, Gavin Young noted that the local sayyids—"venerated men accepted [...] as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad and Ali ibn Abi Talib"—wore dark green keffiyeh in contrast to the black-and-white checkered examples typical of the area's inhabitants.

In 1938, British Mandatory High Commissioner in Palestine, Harold MacMichael, reported to the Foreign Office: "This ‘order’ has been obeyed with surprising docility and it is not an exaggeration to say that in a month eight out of every ten tarbushes in the country had been replaced by the [keffiyeh and] ‘agal’.

As the keffiyeh became a key component of Yasser Arafat's signature look, it definitively lost popularity among Israelis and was associated exclusively with the Palestinian nationalist movement.

While the scarves were never issued by the American armed forces directly, many private tactical equipment retailers marketed and sold them to service personnel in the Marines and Army.

The scarves were usually dyed into color schemes that closely matched the service uniforms, and bore symbols that appealed to Western consumers (e.g., skull and cross bones, Gadsden snakes, and Spartan helmets).

Black and coyote-brown keffiyeh are still commonly worn by military veterans without any implied support for Arab nationalism or similar causes, and at times can carry the opposite message.

[citation needed] As with other articles of clothing worn in wartime, such as the T-shirt, fatigues and khaki pants, the keffiyeh has been seen as chic among non-Arabs in the West.

[22] The trend recurred in the mid-2000s in the United States,[22][23] Europe,[23] Canada and Australia,[24][25] when the keffiyeh became popular as a fashion accessory, usually worn as a scarf around the neck in hipster circles.

[26] The appropriation of the keffiyeh as a fashion statement by non-Arab wearers separate from its political and historical meaning has been the subject of controversy in recent years.

[27] While it is often worn as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, the fashion industry has disregarded its significance by using its pattern and style in day-to-day clothing design.